OmniGraffle: The Definitive Guide?

[roosterboy]

Y'know, as much as I dig OmniGraffle, I've always found the documentation somewhat lacking. It seems I'm always discovering new things about the app that I never knew existed. And a measly 24 pages of manual for an app of such complex ability strikes me as, well, underweight.

I wonder if there's ever been any interest in a book for OG like O'Reilly's Definitive Guide series? I, for one, would whip out my credit card for such a book so fast the friction would probably set my pants on fire.

[Bill Van Hecke]

Have you looked at the on-screen help? We tried not to let any feature go unmentioned, there.

[Agnostus]

I second the wish for a book or something similar.

I am a casual user of Graffle; I often find myself in a situation where I have to produce a diagram. With my lack of Graffle experience, but long standing Illustrator habits, I find working with Graffle very cumbersome. In these situations I wish that there was some kind of documentation that really shows you the possibilities that Graffle gives you (and I think there are a lot). This is something that doesn't really work with the online doc.

I'll gladly spend time working through a document with well explained examples that shows you what you can do and how to do it. I wouldn't dream of working through the online doc. That's a reference that comes in handy once you've mastered the basics.

Regards,
Martin

[bethkatz17582]

The market is pretty small for a full-fledged book, but would a few tutorials or pointers to how to make some examples help?

[Ken Case]

I'll gladly spend time working through a document with well explained examples that shows you what you can do and how to do it.

Are the OmniGraffle Walkthroughs and Sample OmniGraffle Documents from our Extras (http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnigraffle/extras/) page the sort of thing you have in mind? Are you looking for more like this, or for something different? (Or are we not doing a good job of pointing people at what we've already done?)

[bethkatz17582]

The walkthroughs were sort of what I was looking for when I was distracted by something else. They're pretty simple, and I didn't realize that they were available.

The Basic one was a quick intro. In the Tool Walkthrough, I went to Stamp Tool. I can't seem to enable that on my tool palette. Maybe that's a feature of OG Pro. But the Pen Tool walkthrough was pretty helpful.

I had been to the Extras page before because I've downloaded and created my own stencils. But I hadn't seen the walkthroughs or sample documents. I'd probably have links to them from the Help menu or at least have something on the Help menu that brings up a description of what they are and a pointer to them.

Now I want to know how to create something like OmniGravvle. Too many toys, too little time.

[JKT]

But I hadn't seen the walkthroughs or sample documents. I'd probably have links to them from the Help menu or at least have something on the Help menu that brings up a description of what they are and a pointer to them.
I'd actually include them as a part of the download along with the application.

[Agnostus]

Are the OmniGraffle Walkthroughs and Sample OmniGraffle Documents from our Extras (http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnigraffle/extras/) page the sort of thing you have in mind? Are you looking for more like this, or for something different? (Or are we not doing a good job of pointing people at what we've already done?)

Actually, I have tried the Walkthroughs, but I found them to be more appropriate for the "first-contact-with-graphics-app" experience. Something more intermediate is what I need. Some more in-depth coverage of what sets OmniGraffle apart from regular drawing apps in terms of behaviour. E.g. how lines have the tendency to "stick" to each other, and all those automatic placement helps (lines appearing for distance between objects etc), that sometimes come in handy, sometimes get in the way. Something "tutorialoid" that gives some routine with these issues would be great.

[Curlypaws]

There have been a lot of good tips on the mailing list over time - perhaps a "OmniGraffle Tips & Tricks" home in the forums would allow people to more easily see this kind of information.

[JKT]

That was partially what I started the "I never knew you could do that" thread for - as a place for people to add those little extras that you pick up as time goes by. I hope if enough people post to it, that the Omni Gods will make it or other similar style threads a sticky.

[thesser]

Along these same lines, either included in a "definitive guide" or as a stand-alone, I would like some kind of guide on how to use the networking symbols included with OmniGraffle. I suppose I can use them any way I want, but if there is any reason that the line types are the shape and color they are, I'd like to follow that.

If anyone knows of any other network flowchart guildelines, I'd appreciate a note or link.

Thank you.

[thesser]

Oh, and I second the opinion that the walkthroughs are rather basic. I would also like to see a set of intermediate tool instructions, or more in-depth examples of how to use the tools and features.

[rekrabm]

I like the discovery process with regard to what OG (and other Omnis) will
do, but that doesn't always work when one is under pressure, as has
probably already been well established on this thread.

I found the combo of walkthroughs and videos of an expert using the omni
apps to be VERY helpful.

My suggestion would be, ordered by suspected effectiveness (most
effective and easiest first):

1) a set of videos of Omni experts accomplishing
various tasks (each person has a different way of thinking, so 2 or more
examples per task) organized as beginning, intermediate & advanced.
The basic videos you already have are very good for beginners to
intermediate level. Record the work of someone putting together
the molecule models or the landscape for the back yard or some of the
other complex samples. Show the experts using the tools, it's
the most telling part of apprenticeship.

2) A set of walkthroughs organized for the 3 levels mentioned above which
walk someone through tool usage and then ask for the user to discover
some slightly more complicated aspect of the task/operation.

3) Some Table of Contents structure that directs the user to the
appropriate video or entry point in the walkthroughs for the task or tool
about which they want to know more.

NOTE: Suggest making the overall structure for for everything
in OO with the videos embedded in the OO document. This would allow
searching of content, easy access to videos, and it would be a great
showcase for OO.

[Bill Van Hecke]

Howdy,

The tutorials in the OmniGraffle PDF-and-print manual do take the approach of working from nothing to a complete document; is this helpful to you at all?

As for videos, I agree that we should make some videocasts available for learning nice tricks about the software. That's on my Kinkless GTD list. :D

[Agnostus]

Howdy,

The tutorials in the OmniGraffle PDF-and-print manual do take the approach of working from nothing to a complete document; is this helpful to you at all?

As for videos, I agree that we should make some videocasts available for learning nice tricks about the software. That's on my Kinkless GTD list. :D

Well, it is true that the tutorials in the PDF cover from zero to complete document, BUT, again, along the way, only the basiscs are tought. Though you can create a complete document with just the basics, that still doesn't solve the problem of getting used to the nitty-gritty stuff. Actually, if you have some experience in 2D-drawing apps, most techniques tought in the tutorials are things that seem "standard", i.e. stuff you would do that way intuitively. I want to make my point that what is really lacking is some sort of training to really get finegrained controll over the app, e.g. when it comes to EXACT placement of lines and shapes the way I want and not the way Graffle wants - just to name one example. OmniGraffle - due to his nature as a diagramming versus an drawing app - has a behaviour that is, when it comes to these tasks, quite different from drawing apps. And here the documentation leaves you out in the rain.

[TommyW]

I would echo all of the above (having upgraded to Pro this weekend).

Graffle is your most unique product. A lot of your purchasers would be familiar with drawing programs, what makes OG different, what other things can you do...

[jem]

Actually this is one of my problem with all three Omni programs I own, there are documentation that describes the basics but I miss examples of how to use the more advanced stuff.

[JKT]

I would echo all of the above (having upgraded to Pro this weekend).

Graffle is your most unique product. A lot of your purchasers would be familiar with drawing programs, what makes OG different, what other things can you do...
Well, that one is easy - it isn't a drawing programme ;) It's a diagramming programme.

I suspect that the reason why there isn't a definitive guide for OmniGraffle is because it has changed so much between versions - in terms of those advanced features which people are asking to have documentation for, OmniGraffle 2 is not much like OmniGraffle 3 and OmniGraffle 4 is not much like OmniGraffle 3 (though the differences are less than between 3 and 2). This is a reflection of the lack of "maturity" of the product. I suspect that the next version will be more like OmniGraffle 4 so maybe, preparing the documentation will be easier to do (much like writing the manual for Photoshop with each new upgrade is easy - clone 95% and add that little bit for the few new features).

[marc]

I'd actually include them as a part of the download along with the application.
Absolutely agree. The Walkthroughs are only ~400Kb (expanded, ~80Kb compressed), so could easily be bundled within the app, just like the Keyboard shortcuts document in the Help menu, to make them always avaialble (although perhaps in a Sub-menu, it couls start to get a bit crowded in there.)

As for the Sample documents I'd suggest a Help menu link to the Extras page. Granted the Get More Stencils... command also takes you there, but that's an artefact of the Stencils, samples etc. being on the same web page, and not a function of the UI -- later on they may be separated (e.g. if the Stencils system gets an overhaul, and the web page becomes more of a directory/db of Stencils.)

Whishful thinking, perhaps. :)

[graybeal]

As a person under deadline Right Now, and trying to figure out how in the heck a particular feature works, I have to say "amen" to:
1) Bundling all documentation with the app.
2) Documenting all the features *somewhere*

I've been using OG for many years, feverishly only in the last 3 months. I've uncovered maybe 20 things I never found in the documentation, and another 20 I had no idea it could do. (Example: visited the Extras page thanks to the link above, lots of cool stuff there -- then I did the whole walkthrough, which mentioned NONE (? -- close to none?) of the cool stuff. How am I supposed to learn this stuff?

And enough of things don't work (can't find the stamp tool; the brush tool only works if you double-click on it, a single-click ends up being useless) or are badly described (Bezier curves: I don't think "click on 1, drag on 2 and 3" describes what you have to do in normal terms, it's more like "click on 1 and drag to 2, click and drag to 3" that it's easy to give up sometimes. I figured most of them out after 3 tries, but ....

My example of the minute: The stencil that has variables like Date, ModificationDate, etc. in it seems really valuable. But I need to know what formatting codes I can use, and when does the ModificationDate that's displayed really update (in memory and on the screen), and...and...oh heck, gotta get back to work.

Thanks for a wonderfully blissful program, it really is great!!

[frescoVA]

I'm a new user and I have to tell you that I'm highly dissappointed in the documentation.

The app seems to be great, but I can;t figure out - what I think should be a very simple task.

How do I link an object in one canvas to another? This does not seem to be covered anywhere in the documentation...

If anyone can help I would appreciate it.

[JKT]

Select the Properties: Action inspector. In the main document window, highlight the object you want to click to jump to another object on a different canvas and pick the options:

http://homepage.mac.com/jtyzack/.Pictures/screenshots/OGactioninspec.jpg

Click the object on your secondary canvas (in the inspector) that you want highlighted when you use the browse tool to click the primary object.

[Agnostus]

Hi,

I was wondering if it would make sense if there were an official OmniGraffle IRC channel, where one could talk in "realtime" to other users. This has proven invaluable for me when using blender. Another great app, where I often get stuck.

[dude]

I regsitered on the board tonight just to give my two cents.

Long time user, well, long enough, and I believe that sample doc's should be packaged with the program and GET EXTRA HELP link so we can find the extra's page. I had no idea about that until tonight.

I want to be a power user and while I can make nice flowcharts (I use this program at least 3 days a week) I am not a power user and that sucks.

Maybe we should start a "Showcase your talents" thread where everyone can post up PDF copies of a flow chart they have created.

[Ellen]

And enough of things don't work (can't find the stamp tool; the brush tool only works if you double-click on it, a single-click ends up being useless) or are badly described (Bezier curves: I don't think "click on 1, drag on 2 and 3" describes what you have to do in normal terms, it's more like "click on 1 and drag to 2, click and drag to 3" that it's easy to give up sometimes. I figured most of them out after 3 tries, but ....



I just started using OG and was quite frustrated when I followed the steps in the walkthrough until I saw your post. I cannot find stamp tool (is it still available in 4.1.2 pro?), and the Bezier description doesn't make much sense, etc. :( Glad to see I am not alone...

[ianpiper]

Actually, I have tried the Walkthroughs, but I found them to be more appropriate for the "first-contact-with-graphics-app" experience. Something more intermediate is what I need. Some more in-depth coverage of what sets OmniGraffle apart from regular drawing apps in terms of behaviour. E.g. how lines have the tendency to "stick" to each other, and all those automatic placement helps (lines appearing for distance between objects etc), that sometimes come in handy, sometimes get in the way. Something "tutorialoid" that gives some routine with these issues would be great.

I wholeheartedly agree with the need for a book on this. I would like to see more detail about lots of areas. I have recently been hacking my way through some AppleScripts to do round-tripping of xml files with Omnigraffle diagrams (effectively a visual xml editor) and figuring out the Dictionary and more obscure aspects of OmniGraffle has been like home dentistry. Not knocking OmniGraffle at all - it is practically the best app on my Mac and justifies owning a Mac in itself (as if owning a Mac needed justification!).

I have actually been putting some notes together for a brief for a book. Anyone interested in some collaboration on this (ianpiper@mac.com if you are)?


Ian.
--

[Auraelius]

I'd contribute to a wiki on a regular basis. It would be best if it were hosted by Omni.

[Rivkah]

When I need to know ....? Where do I go? It should do this, shouldn't it?

I've asked on the forum and was rewarded with a blunt answer that I took as "If you'd read the 'Definitive Guide' you wouldn't be asking such a stupid question." I know don't be so sensitive. ;-)

I find that most program's Help often doesn't. Saying "Press the *ShrumShrum Button to get the ShrumShrum Function is redundant all over again. ;-) I might need to know a little bit about ShrumShrums though, and how to use them with OG.

What I think folks here are asking is: How do we push OG to it's limits? How do we know what the limits are? What's the difference between a diagrammer and a sketcher and why can't I do both with OG? How can I partner with Omni to make OG better? How can we help make the user base bigger? How can I get my work done without going to another product? What's a dot graph? Oh, no OG just went to Grafizz what do I do?

All in all, OG is an excellent product. Like many good products you can do 80% of the work with 20% of the features. I need help with the other 80% of the features.

* A ShrumShrum is a generic thing like John Doe, Fred Nerk, or Jane Doe.